Homegrown loves bringing to you emerging artists and those who have established a niche in alternate genres hidden from the mainstream. Keeping things super fresh, we will be curating a weekly list of numbers we could not get enough of through the week and that we know will earworm themselves to your heart as well.
Scroll down for your weekly dose of latest releases.
Ali Saffudin ‘Reham Karain’
Srinagar-based singer-songwriter Ali Saffudin’s captivating voice conveys the plight of his people in a heartbreaking way in his latest single. Reham Karain, written in collaboration with Zeeshan Jaipuri accurately depicts the pain and sorrow of those caught up in conflict-zones through the music video. An emerging voice from the valley of Kashmir, Saffudin is a testament to the talent of the region and the fearlessness in dissent through art.
Krantinaari and PrabhuNeigh ‘Discovery to Destruction’
Conscious rapper Krantinaari is known for her raps that are bold, honest, and don’t hold back from commenting on social issues. True to her moniker, our losing sense of humanity worries her and hence, her latest too (based on a self-published book of the same title) is a call for kranti (revolution) through music. In the single with producer PrabhuNeigh, she addresses topics like farmer suicides in India, the education system, brain drain, social media, and its implications on the youth. The song is an attempt to call out herd mentality, wherein we become blind followers of the system without ever questioning it.
Pallaví aka Fijiana ‘Direction’
Indo-Fijian artist Pooja Pallavi aka Fijiana released a crowdfunded music video for her single ‘Direction’ which saw her as the director and producer on the project. The old school Bollywood-esque feel single with a modern twist has a sense of peace and calm to it which is further heightened by the aesthetics of the video shot in a river. “Direction, to remind us that we are bigger than other’s ideas of us. We are love,” said the artist on her Youtube Channel.
TheGreyBox ‘Take It Easy’
Independent hip-hop artist TheGreyBox released his debut single ‘Take It Easy’. True to the title of the track, the flow and rhythm of the rap creates a sense of laidback easiness. If the track could be described in a word, it would probably be ‘breezy’. While releasing the track, the artist said on their social media, “I got a lot to share with the world and I’m doing that independently so hopefully you can appreciate the care and the effort.” A refreshing emerging voice in the scene, we can’t wait for what’s next.
Last week, Zaeden released a new single ‘Kho Gaya’ in collaboration with rapper Yashraj from his upcoming album Genesis 1:1. Zaeden’s melodious voice and Yashraj’s smooth-flowing rap add to the storytelling and narrative of the song. The song reflects on the inner turmoil that one faces when they are holding onto something they know is bound to fall apart and how one replays memories in an attempt to escape from the harsh reality.
(Bonus) New Artist We Discovered Last Week:
Abhaydev Praful ‘Diurne’
Composer, classical guitar player, and multi-instrumentalist Abhaydev Praful released his debut album Diurne in 2020. With minimal idiosyncratic melodies on the piano and mettlesome string work on the album, it creates a sense of calmness and contentment. The album follows two streams of work with four tracks meant for the piano and three for the string trio, all of which are mirrored and find their melting point in the title track.
For the album, Praful also assembled and worked with eminent musicians of the Madras Chamber Orchestra to form his own Monsoon Ensemble. The ensemble consists of – Prabhu George on the Violin, Cyril Fernandes on the Viola, Desmond Xavier on the Cello, S. Balakrishnan on the Concert Flute, and Abhaydev Praful on the Piano and the Guitar.
The track ‘Tango’ in the album was my personal favourite ( for some reason, it instantly put the image of a protagonist leisurely walking through the streets of Paris in my mind, maybe it’s just my travel-quenched heart!).
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